Fabric-Covered Corkboard Tutorial

I buy corkboards whenever I see them at thrift stores or yard sales if they are two dollars or less. They've been piling up in my garage, so I thought it was about time that I actually do something with them! There's been a lot of blog buzz about inspiration boards lately, so I decided to give you a quick and easy tutorial on creating a fabric-covered cork board.

I started off with a plain bulletin board:

1. I painted the frame with an antique white water-based enamel craft paint. This frame needed three coats.

2. Cut the fabric to fit the board. I used a fat quarter from my stash of Heather Bailey's Freshcut fabrics. If you do ANY sewing or crafting with fabrics, you MUST invest in a rotary cutter, cutting mat and clear ruler. I've been sewing for many years, and I only got these tools a year ago. Now I realize how much time I wasted cutting fabric with scissors (not to mention all of the fabric that I've thrown away because I suck at cutting with scissors).

3. Tape off the frame and use spray adhesive to attach the fabric to the board. I used Craft Bond. Spray the adhesive onto the cork, and then lay the fabric on the board. Use a piece of cardboard to smooth out any bubbles in the fabric. To make sure the fabric won't come off along the edges, staple the fabric to the board along the frame (just a few staples in the corners and in the middle of each side).

4. Attach trim or ribbon to cover the edges of the fabric and staples. I used Fabric-Tac to glue vintage rick-rack trim along the edges. I cut a separate piece of trim for each side. I originally attempted to use one long piece of trim, but the corners didn't look right.

Here's the finished product!

After finishing my project, I was overtaken by some sort of crafty demon, and was physically unable to put down the glue. So, I attached vintage buttons to thumbtacks to make these cute little push pins:

And then I made another board. For this one, I used striped grosgrain ribbon around the edges.

Both of these are for sale at the Vintage Home Annex. Try it yourself, and let me know how it goes!

UPDATED on August 13, 2008:
Need more inspiration? I made another fabric-covered corkboard.  

Comments

[gayle]

Absolutely love them. I have two boards and the ribbon idea around the edge is spot-on. I love the thumb tack button idea too. What a lovely way to be able to look at your favourite old buttons! I am useless at cutting too so I should invest!

[pam]

I love how these turned out! Very clever!

[Melody]

fun & beautiful ... I'll give it a go!

[julie (jane's apron)]

the ribbon is a great idea...going to have to start looking for a board at my thrift store. thanks for the tutorial!

[Lisa Johnson]

Hi Colleen,

this is just the inspiration I needed to get going on my board. I have everything I need, just need to do it. Thanks for the kick start.

Lisa

[M&Co]

So lovely! I've been wanting to make one myself. Thank you sharing how you did it :-)

[sharron]

very pretty and vintage!!! thanks for the inspiration!!!

[ismoyo]

What a great idea! And the board turned out so wonderful!

[Joy]

This is brilliant! Loved the setp-by-step, thanks!

[Tammy]

I LOVE these!! I'm going to fox up my bulletin boards! :)

[Mitzi]

Wow, those are great! I'm now looking at my boring cork board above my desk with disgust. ;)

[Rosemary]

I love them both. Great idea!!
Thanks for sharing,
Rosemary

[Sherri]

Just found your blog--love it!!! I wish I lived where you do, both so I could buy from you AND so I could hit some of your garage sales! I rarely have such scoreage here in Southern California!

[Kim]

Dang it! You are such an enabler. Just when I'm trying to stop doing so many craft projects, you show me another one that I've GOT to do :)

[Kirsty]

Wow! They are fabulous - I'm definitely going to give that a go.

[Karin (creativechaos)]

So cute....I have that same fabric! Love it!

[jenn ski]

I think I will try it this week. My cork board looks horrible! My cat seems to think it's a scratching post.

[B]

Thanks for the inspiration! A perfect winter project.

[Sweet Cottage Dreams]

Very cute! Thank you for teaching us how to make these! I really need one!

xo
Becky

[Melanie]

What a great idea! I am going to make one as soon as we get settled in our new home!

[maria]

Fabulous button idea!

[Kate]

What kind of glue did you use with the button/thumbtack idea? Very clever!

[Soulla Andreou]

hi there, everything i've seen so far is amazing. you have such a great talent and you use it well!! good luck

[Jenny]

Thank you thank you!

[Susan]

I've doen these. I never had spray glue around so I cut it a bit bigger than the cork and tucked it in the edges...that really goes amazingly fast. Love the thumbtacks

[proslaviy]

Hi, how I can send PM?

[Katherine]

I'm so glad I found this post! I've been wanting to make these but never even thought of the spray adhesive! I have spray adhesive AND a fun fun fabric stash.

You know, this is an awesome gift that would be sooo easy to coordinate with nursery linens. I will absolutely be making these for baby gifts.

I can't wait to make these!!!

[Marisa]

I have been looking for a tutorial on how to cover my cork board for ages, thanks for sharing.

[Cary]

So cute! Nice job! :D

[jennifer Ramos]

I am thinking about adding fabric to my inspiration board cork board frame...Great find, thanks!
Jen Ramos
'Cards & Prints You'll Love...'
www.madebygirl.com
madebygirl.blogspot.com

[jessica taggart]

I came across your blog via google when I was looking for a way to cover a corkboard with fabric. Thank you SO much for the step by step instructions. I am in love with my "new" bulletin board and will be sure to do this fun and easy craft again. I tried to do the buttons as well on my push pins, but to no avail, they didn't work. Do you have some advice for those? Maybe I didn't use enough glue? Maybe I should have used thumb tacks in lieu of push pins? I would love your advice!

[kelly]

just made one and love it - especially the buttoned thumbtacks...thank you!!

[Cindy]

Just made one!...still need to add some ribbon trim but oh! so happy :) Thanks

[Geraldine]

Wow that's a very good idea. Thank you. This will go good in my nephew's room all season of sport's.. He'll get to see all his team's and i don't even have to spend much.. Great tip. Thank you once again and please keep passing those tip's to us all...

[Heather Johnson]

Hello. - I've been looking online for how to make a fabric bulletin bd and I love how yours truned out. I wanted to let the frame show on mine as well. I was wondering if you would recommend adhereing the fabric to the board and then trimming it to fit inside the frame....I don't have the tools that you mentioned and I was looking for an easy way to make it. Thanks for your advice!

[Shanyn]

THANK YOU!!! I did a terrible paint job on my cork boards....this has saved me. I even had the perfect fabric from my stash for both boards... I am leaving now to go get the spray adhesive but I am not sure what glue to use to glue the buttons to the tacks....Awesome tutorial!

[supra shoes]

Agree with your point of view

[красная поляна]

О! Buona spedizione e questo post mi ha aiutato molto nel mio assegnazione college. Gratitudine voi come i tuoi dati.

[Carmen Martínez]

Precioso, y una idea estupenda. Gracias

[Alexis]

For people who don't have the "right" tools. I used muslin,spray adhesive, a glue gun, some regular run-of-the-mill ribbon, and vintage buttons.

1. I didn't paint the frame on mine because it's metal and it was late at night (and I was feeling particularly lazy.

2.I kept it simple with some plain muslin that was leftover from a project. I laid the muslin over top of the bulletin board and cut out the shape of the bulletin board + 2 inches extra for the border (like you would for a seam allowance).

3. I lined up the muslin with the top of the cork and I thumbtacked it up there. On the rest of the board, I pinned the muslin about 2" in from the frame so that I would have some leeway. I lined my scissors up with the fabric and just cut. Don't worry about it being perfect. You can always go back and trim it.

4. Then you unpin everything except for the top row of pins. Flip the fabric up. Spray the adhesive on the cork - but leave around an inch and a half of cork around the edges unsprayed. Before the adhesive dries, align your fabric and lay it down on the cork. From the center, smooth out the fabric to the outsides to get rid of the wrinkles. Make sure everything still lines up.

5. With your glue gun, glue the edges of the fabric down. Make sure you don't glop it or else you'll get blotches and bumps all over. Do this every few inches around the entire perimeter of the board. Again, don't worry if you can see some of the board. Take a stapler, open it up, and then throw some staples up on the edges like directed.

6. Measure out your ribbon. Put a small dot of hot glue in the middle of the board and align it with the center of your ribbon. Glue the ribbon down starting from the center and working your way to the edges. Don't glue the very ends down until all four sides are glued. Trim the ribbon so that it fits your corners. Now glue.

5. Attach the thumbtacks to the buttons with the hot glue.

I have a brand new cricut, so I cut out some shapes, put some modge podge on them, and added them as embellishments along the edges of my board.

(Sorry this was so long - I improvised with what I had)